Rich Publisher of a Poor Paper – Li Xinde

Another classic work of journalism from citizen journalist Li Xinde (Picture showing Wu Bingjing (Âê¥ÁÇ≥Êô∂), right, ushering former President Jiang Zemin during a CPPCC (‰∏≠ÂõΩÊîøÂçè) conference years ago while Wu, now publisher of China Food Daily (‰∏≠ÂõΩÈ£üÂìÅÊä•), was a staff employee of CPPCC. Wu managed to photoshop out his CPPCC employee tag and bragged he had a photo op with Jiang, indicating a close relationship between them.)

Wu, it is learned, owns at least 10 luxury cars, including Lexus’s, Mercedes’s and Audi’s, but put some of the titles under his colleagues’ names. He lives in a high-end villa, where he hangs an enlarged photo of his photoshoped masterpiece suggesting a friendship with Jiang.

China Food Daily, a publication under China’s Light Industry Association (‰∏≠ÂõΩËΩªÂ∑•‰∏öËÅîÂêà‰ºö), now runs 27 million in debts, hitting rock bottom after Wu’s eight years of management from a paper with 8.5 million in cash and profitability. But his personal wealth surged, with allegedly 10 million, including dozens of credit transactions in his bank account of more than 100,000 yuan each.

His boss at the Association and Beijing’s procuratorate are both turning a blind eye. The Association says, with red-stamped documents, Wu’s wealth comes from his wife, “a Beijing representative of a Tianjin-based real estate developer.” The reporter learned, however, Wu is divorced and his ex-wife has never been in the real estate business. But there is a woman who is now running overseas behind nearly 30 million in debts after suspected stealing home buyers’ money and declaring a bankruptcy.

The procuratorate, which turned down a serious investigation into the corruption charge, says the case is classified. A media handler, after consulting with procuratorate officials, said the case is at an early stage and information is not supposed to be made public. When confronted with a document from the procuratorate that refused to establish a case, the media lady stumbled without an answer, but asked who provided the document. [Full Text in Chinese]